Sandy-based Panoptic Security Inc. sees a big opportunity in a huge problem for small businesses.

On the one hand, there are forms that may run to 200 pages, technical gibberish and threats from organized gangs of hackers looking for credit card and other information. On the other, there are consultants offering services for thousands of dollars to deal with those problems, or a plethora of companies with partial solutions that take days and expertise to sift through.

Swirling over it all is the specter of substantial losses or even loss of a business if you lose customer data.

"It's really an arms race," said Tim Cranny, CEO of Panoptic Security, adding, "This is really life and death for merchants."

The startup company in offices just off Interstate 15 is set to wrap up its first round of venture capital funding that will allow it to move more aggressively to serve the needs of small businesses to secure customer information and comply with a thicket of security requirements.

Only a year and a half old, Panoptic has been nurtured at the Miller Business Resource Center at the Salt Lake Community College Campus. Cranny says the company is already serving customers but with up to $1 million in venture capital, it will be able to inject itself further into the marketplace.

Hanging over small businesses of both the brick-and-mortar and online types is PCI DSS -- the acronym for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. PCI is a consortium of credit card companies that sets security standards that businesses must meet in order to process transactions.

The object is to protect credit card numbers and other personal information from the ever-present threat of organized thieves who constantly roam the Internet (or even drive around looking for unsecured wireless networks) looking to steal information.

While big business can and does pay big bucks for its security, small businesses with few resources may be overwhelmed by the security requirements, which include filling out long forms but also may even require the hiring of security guards. Often the technical language is beyond small business owners whose focus is on selling particular products.

"It's literally like Swahili to them," said Cranny.

That's where Panoptic sees its opportunity.

The company was founded by four guys -- besides Cranny, Jim Kilgour, Michael Wright and Peter Boucher --- who left Senforce Technologies after it was bought by Novell.

They looked at the emerging data security requirements for small businesses -- 8 million in the U.S. alone --- and saw a niche for a company that could provide an array of services at low cost.

"Somebody needs to be an expert," said Cranny, an Australian who emigrated to this country five years ago with a Ph.D. in pure mathematics from the University of Queensland earned at age 24.

Panoptic offers businesses and those like banks that service credit card operations an online tool that guides them through the process of complying with Payment Card Industry security standards. Backed by artificial intelligence programing, the online process asks clients for required information, guiding them through the process by avoiding or simply explaining technical terms.

The process not only fills out the complex forms for a business, but also then provides help in finding other companies to help it meet additional requirements, such as providing antispy ware software.

"We're the one stop shop," said Cranny.

tharvey@sltrib.com